The Keyblade Nutcracker
by Christopher Scott
Summary: The beautiful work of Tchaikovsky, with a Namine/Sora twist. Join Little Namine as she gets a nutcracker that starts an adventure that she would never have expected. Please Read and Review. Happy Holidays folks!truly, Christopher Scott: A Gentleman Thief
1. Chapter 1

The Nutcracker

To those of you who are reading Namine in Wonderland, I'm not quitting on it. It will just be on hiatus for the holidays in order for me to work on this fanfic. Please don't kill me. This takes place at (yet again) Oblivion Orphanage, but, it is a completely different story from Namine in Wonderland. I just don't want to create any parents for either her (for obvious reasons), or Kairi, who will show up later. I don't own Kingdom Hearts by Square Enix or The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Namine and the other orphans at Oblivion Orphanage were enjoying themselves on that Christmas Eve. A grand party was to be held, and Santa Claus was going to come deliver gifts to every one of the children later in the night. Namine, specifically, was drawing the magnificent scene of the main hall, where the festivities would be held.

The orphanage attendants were working their hardest to make the party as enjoyable for themselves and the children as possible. The chef was cooking a sumptuous goose, while the caretakers were setting decorations on the walls, as well as putting ornaments on the tree. The groundskeeper was even getting in on the merriment, putting up several decorations that showed that it was Christmastime again.

The other children were deeply invested in their winter games, while Namine, herself was drawing the entire scene, taking in the contrast of the white snow against the bright colors of the other orphans attire. Humorously, her choice in attire, as well as her already pale skin, made the artist blend into the environment, making her seem almost as a ghost or vision.

Eventually, the time came for them to be called in for dinner, much to the protest of all the children. The demand was complied with, however. Nobody would want to be sent to bed early when there was a Christmas party that very evening.

"What do you want for Christmas, Marluxia?" Larxene asked.

"I want some flower seeds," the boy responded, "so that when spring comes, I can have my own flowers ready to be planted. What about you, Vexen?"

"I would like some ice sculpting tools," the other boy commented, "What about you, Zexion?" he asked turning to the fourth person at the table.

"I would like a new book," he replied simply, "And you, Larxene?"

"I want a kitten," she answered, "and if it leaves me, I will find it again, and keep it with me forever, whether it wants to or not. And we all know that Namine wants art supplies."

This caused the quiet girl to avert her eyes. While the group was not overtly mean to her, they did not find her passion for art that interesting.

* * *

><p>As the clock struck 6, the party began. Streamers were all around, with all manners of decorations of red, green, gold, and silver darting along the entire building, but nowhere near as much as the main hall itself. The tree was shining with the number of ornaments and lights along the entire surface. The games were played, and prizes awarded, and the entire feel of the room was that of holiday cheer.<p>

It soon was time for presents to be handed out. Each child got just what they desired, and were pleased as could be to have done so. Then, the headmaster of the Orphanage, Master Xenmas Drosselmeyer, entered the room, a sack upon his back.

"Well," he said cheerily, "I suppose that it is time to give out my presents to the younglings."

With this, he sat himself down, sack in front of him and said, "Line up to get your gifts, children."

Each child lined up as he handed out the gifts.

"Ah, Larxene," he said cheerily, "for you, I have a jump rope. Zexion, you got a copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Vexen, you've got a set of toy soldiers. Marluxia, I got you a book on origami."

After every one of the other children had been awarded a gift, he turned to her and said, "And that leaves little Namine. Come here, little one."

Namine shyly walked up to the cheerful man as he reached into the bag. Smiling, Xenmas pulled a pecan, still in its shell, out of his coat pocket and said, "For you, I have a little nutcracker. He's a very interesting piece. Because, you see, his special skill is that he can crush a nut between his teeth when you pull the lever in his back. Ah, here he is."

As he pulled out the nutcracker, Namine got to see what it looked like when he led it out to her. It was a nicely designed nutcracker, in a red uniform with blue pants and, rather than having a helmet, he had tanned skin, spiky brown hair that went in all directions, and beautiful blue eyes. In his hand he held a simple golden key that was large enough to be a sword to him. As a matter of fact, it seemed that the nutcracker actually was holding the key in the exact way one would a sword.

Before Xenmas handed the nutcracker to her, he took the pecan and put it in between the nutcracker's slack jaws. Then, reaching behind it, he pushed the lever on its back and made the nutcracker split the pecan in half. After giving that display, he handed the nutcracker to Namine. As he placed it within her grasp, he winked and said, "That's not all that makes him special, but, I leave it to you to figure out how else on your own. His name is Sora, by the way."

Tentatively, Namine grabbed the nutcracker, not wanting to damage her wonderful new friend. She sat aside playing with Sora for a while before she thought to draw her wonderful friend. As she drew him, Marluxia came up to her and asked, "May I try to use this walnut on him?"

"O-Okay, Marluxia," Namine responded quietly, seeing no harm in letting him handle Sora. The older boy took the doll and placed the walnut in the mouth. He then pushed the lever down, when a sickening crack was heard. The jaw had snapped out of place.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Marluxia cried, "I'm so sorry, Namine! I didn't mean to!"

Namine's response was to panic, until Master Xenmas came back and gingerly took the nutcracker from the still-apologizing boy's hands and removed the walnut from the poor nutcracker's mouth. Once he had cleared the jaw of the obstruction, he put his hand under the bottom jaw and popped it back into place and handed Sora back to Namine.

"Be very careful with him," Xenmas said with a slight chuckle as he ruffled her hair, "He can't bite off more than he can chew."

* * *

><p>When it finally came time to go to bed, Namine took her beloved nutcracker to bed and closed her eyes, holding Sora in her arms as she began to fall asleep.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

The Keyblade Nutcracker

Chapter 2

I still don't own either. As a matter of fact, I don't even own a copy of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece, though I do own a copy of the original Kingdom Hearts.

Special thanks to Demmmy, HitsugaysGirl, and namibug37 for putting this story on story alert.

Namine woke with a start. She didn't know what she had been dreaming, but she was awake now. Feeling her arms empty, she reached out to grab Sora, only to feel emptiness where he should be. Namine then began to look around. Her bed seemed bigger to her. Then again, so did her room. It was as if she had suddenly drunk from a bottle of a shrinking potion.

Looking down, Namine noticed that she was very tiny, smaller than she should have been.

"Wow," she commented to herself, "Now I really am 'Little Namine'."

"Who are you?" a feminine voice suddenly asked. Namine spun around to see a girl who looked like the doll she lost when she was younger, Kairi, with her red hair, pink dress and violet eyes. Strangely enough, the doll was carrying a crossbow that Namine had never seen before.

"Kairi?" she asked, trying to figure out if it was really her long-lost doll.

"Yes?" the doll asked, looking at Namine with scrutiny in order to see if she knew the girl before her. Before Kairi could react, Namine ran at her and gave her a fierce hug.

"Have you been here this whole time? I thought I had lost you out on the street! I'm so glad that you're here!" the human girl shouted, holding her old toy close.

"Who are you?" the doll repeated, extricating herself from Namine's embrace.

"It's me, Namine," the girl responded, backing up to give the doll a good look at her.

The doll stood there for a moment, staring at the human, until she suddenly hugged the girl and shouted, "Milady! I'm so sorry; I hadn't seen you in so long that I had almost forgotten what you looked like!"

"Don't worry about it," Namine assured her friend, "I'm just so happy to see you!"

"And I you, Milady," Kairi responded, relaxing her posture for a moment, before suddenly regaining the tension in her limbs as she asked, "What are you doing out here at this size! You could get into serious danger if the Mouse King finds out that you're here! We need to get you to the safe house that we have before he finds out you're here!"

"Who's the Mouse King?" Namine asked.

"He's a tyrant who wishes to destroy the kingdom, as well as the Prince," Kairi responded, leading Namine by the hand as they walked to a large dollhouse in the playroom down the hall, "He leads an army of mice and rats that are willing to follow him to the destruction of the Kingdom."

"Who's the Prince?" Namine pressed.

"That must wait, Milady," Kairi responded, "It's easier for you to meet him, as we could get caught if we mention him out here."

With that, both girls went silent until they got to the dollhouse. When they arrived, they heard a voice say, "Who goes there?"

"It's just me, Riku!" Kairi said, "And I brought my liege lady, Namine."

"Kairi?" the voice responded, "Alright. Come in quickly."

With that, the door opened, revealing a worried-looking red uniformed silver-haired boy, wielding a black jagged sword in one hand. He looked at the pair and cheerfully said, "Hi Kairi. I'm glad you're okay. Now what is this you said about a 'liege lady'?"

"This is my liege lady, Namine, who is for some reason much shorter than she originally was."

"I see…" Riku responded, confusion evident in his voice, "How did she get so small?"

"I don't know," Namine admitted.

"Well, all that we can do now is introduce you to the Prince," Riku responded.

* * *

><p>"Your Majesty," Riku said, leading Kairi and Namine into the attic of the doll house, "Kairi has returned with someone she refers to as her liege lady, Namine."<p>

"Namine?" a friendly sounding voice responded curiously, "Send her in."

Namine entered the room with Kairi, the doll not leaving the girl's side, and saw an interesting site, indeed. Sitting among a group of tin soldiers was a wooden soldier. Not just any wooden soldier, however. This wooden soldier was tan with brown spiky hair and had a lever on his back and a hinged jaw.

And, to top it all off, he had a golden key in his hand. It seemed that he was leaning on it with the key on the ground while the round end was under both of his hands; much like one would with a sword if they leaned on it.

"Sora?" Namine asked Kairi, "Is that really Sora I see?"

"Yes, Milady," Kairi responded, "The Nutcracker Prince, himself."

"Hello, Namine," Sora said, smiling at his owner, "It's good to see you."

"Hi, Sora," the girl responded, trying to figure out just what to say to her now-living nutcracker, "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing pretty well, seeing as my jaw is back in place," he joked, "Other than having to reclaim the Kingdom from the Mouse King."

"Speaking of which," Riku said, "I saw some of his forces outside of the safe house. He's going to move in on us any day now."

"Let's just go kill them now!" a female tin soldier shouted in a high chipper voice.

"I agree with Yuffie," Riku, said, "The time is right, and we have several new recruits, while his numbers have dwindled. I think that a direct assault of his troops will do us well, as even rats can't have a new army ready that quickly."

"I think we should wait," Sora responded, "We need our troops to be at their top form, and right now, we have some of our troops still recovering. We'll regroup in thirty minutes for a vote on the matter. Meeting adjourned."

With that, the entire group dispersed, leaving Kairi, Namine, and Sora alone in the room.

"So," Kairi said, "How do you two know each other?"

"I was her Christmas present this year," Sora responded, smiling at the blushing Namine gently, "It was amazing. She's a brilliant artist and drew me on a sheet of paper. She's so nice and sweet. She was very gentle with me, and panicked when my jaw popped out of place because someone accidently broke me. Then, she let me sleep in her bed."

"Wow, it's a small world! I was her present last year!" Kairi responded, a slight smirk on her face, "Well, I'll just leave you two lovebirds alone in this empty room, where you can stay with each other alone."

As she left, she noticed that both were turning red in the cheeks, as she laughed mischievously to herself, closing the door.

Silence engulfed the room after the doll had left the room, neither of the occupants looking at the other, until Namine decided to end the silence, asking, "So, you were aware of everything around you the whole time?"

"Yes," Sora responded, "It's part of the curse on me at the moment."

"Curse?" Namine asked, "What curse?"

"I can't say anything else about it, but part of it is I'm aware of everything around me at all times," he responded, "As a matter of fact, you're one of the few enjoyable sights I've seen since my imprisonment."

"That's very sweet, Sora," Namine responded, her cheeks once more red as she hugged her precious nutcracker, leaning in close to him.

"Are you two busy or can we get back to the meeting?" Riku said in an amused voice.

"Oh, right," Sora responded, "Like you and Kairi haven't been caught kissing in every last room in this house. At any rate, I suppose that it's time that we put it to a vote."

"Those in favor of the assault raise your hand," Yuffie said, raising her hand. She was followed by Kairi and Riku.

"Those opposed?" Yuffie continued. Sora raised his hand, while Namine did not vote, as she wasn't sure if she was allowed to.

"Alright," Sora said levelly, "We'll do the invasion."

Suddenly, cannon fire resounded from the other side of the dollhouse. The Mouse King had now launched an invasion.


	3. Chapter 3

The Keyblade Nutcracker

Chapter 3

I own nothing. To all of you I wish your holidays be bright.

Special thanks to dannyrockwell for your review.

"Assemble the troops!" Sora exclaimed, raising his key to charge into the fray, the other three toys following close behind.

With that, Namine was the only one left in the room. As such, she headed out; trying to see what was going on.

Every last toy soldier was fighting an army of black mice and rats with yellow eyes. Namine searched out for her friends and saw an interesting sight. Yuffie was using a regular human's mallet, striking fast and painfully with her deadly weapon, taking several mice and rats with each blow. Riku stood at the entrance, cleaving the mice, which somehow made each one that he struck vanish. Kairi was nearby, striking at each one with her crossbow.

Sora, meanwhile was leading a charge of several troops as they followed him to take on the Mouse King and those of his troops who were holding back. In response, the Mouse King led his own troops into combat. Seeing this Namine joined the fray, grabbing a dead mouse's sword. She may not have been trained to use them, but she knew that the sharp end needs to get into your opponent. As such, she ran at the troops around Kairi, who were getting to close to the doll for comfort. Namine quickly mowed them down, striking as quickly as she could while Kairi aimed to the Mouse King's charging forces, releasing bolt after deadly bolt, until there were none left in the dollhouse.

Eventually, both troops were in dwindling numbers, with both leaders preparing to face off head to head while their armies retreated back to give their leaders the large amount of room that their battle would require.

The Mouse King began, lunging for Sora with his sword. Sora leapt away, dodging the blow. He attempted to try lunge with his key, but was met with a parry, which was followed by the Mouse King rolling back. The King tried again, this time with a swing, but he missed, as Sora leaned away.

Sora then attempted to strike again, slashing at the Mouse King's had, but was met by the blade of the Mouse King, which spun Sora's key away from the nutcracker's hand. He prepared to strike, but Sora rolled away, trying to reach the key. Then, the Mouse King kicked the nutcracker hard, causing him to be knocked further away from his key. The Mouse King lunged, causing Sora to back up, attempting once more to get to his key. The Mouse King followed him, slashing at him again and again, until the Nutcracker was merely inches away from his key. Then, the Mouse King backed him into the corner.

As the Mouse King prepared to strike his opponent, Namine panicked and forcibly took Kairi's crossbow from the doll and took aim. Just when the Mouse King lunged at the trapped nutcracker, Namine unleashed the bolt, striking him in the shoulder. He dropped the sword, grasping his wound in pain. This gave Sora just the distraction that he needed, as he leapt away from the King and grabbed his key, lunging at the Mouse King, striking his chest. Suddenly, the Mouse King began to fade as darkness engulfed him, until it vanished, leaving no trace of the evil ruler.

When the Mouse King fell, much to the surprise of those present, the mouse and rats vanished as if they weren't ever really there. A great cheer resounded as the army of toy soldiers realized that this was the end of the battle.

Sora joined his friends in the celebration, going so far as to take Namine in his arms and spin her in the air before promptly setting her down. Afterwards, he turned to look at the troops and thank them for their service.

"Okay," Yuffie said seriously, "Now, there's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" Namine asked curiously.

"Have a ball!" the toy soldier responded cheerily.

Suddenly, every last one of the toy soldiers, save Riku and Yuffie froze, having turned back to mere tin figurines.

Sora seemed to be very surprised to see the soldiers suddenly stop moving and felt for his lever. Feeling nothing he turned to Namine. The girl was surprised to see that his jaw was no longer a hinged object, but an actual jaw with lips and varying degrees of motion.

"I'm free," Sora said softly. Then, a broad grin covered his face as he shouted, "I'm free!"

"Thank you!" he cheered, hugging Namine.

"For what?" she asked, confused.

"If you hadn't shot him, I would have still been a nutcracker," Sora responded, kissing her upon her reddening cheeks.


	4. Chapter 4

The Keyblade Nutcracker

Chapter 4

Well, Christmas has passed and I did not get ownership rights to either intellectual property, so, suffice it to say, I do not own Kingdom Hearts by Square Enix or The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

"How does that even make sense?" Namine asked, "How does me killing him affect you being cursed?"

"The specifications of my curse were that the only way that I would be free would be if my beloved saved me from an attack by the one who put the curse on me by hitting him with some sort of projectile weapon, allowing me to perform a killing blow against Xehanort," Sora answered.

"I take it Xehanort is the Mouse King?" Namine asked, gesturing at the space where the Mouse King had fallen.

"Yes, he was, but you saved me," Sora responded.

Suddenly Kairi ran up to the pair and said, "Hey, lovebirds! A carriage arrived! Should we attack?"

"No," Sora said cheerfully, "It's here for us to get to the ball."

With that, they all rushed to where the carriage was.

The carriage was magnificent, with golden wheels, a curved ivory chassis, and majestic white horses which seemed to shine with a light of their own. As each member of the group got in, they noticed how comfortably large the interior of the carriage was.

As they flew, several changes took place in most of the occupants of the carriage. Namine's was the simplest transformation, her simple nightdress lengthening and turning into a beautiful white ball gown with a small amount of frill and lace.

Yuffie's helmet vanished, revealing short, black hair as her skin turned to flesh, while her uniform became light blue while wings sprouted from her back. Beside her, a large shuriken sparkled into being, causing her to cheer with delight and pull it in front of her, stroking the metal surface, saying "How's mommy's favorite little weapon?"

Beside her, Riku sat, with his uniform turning purple, while his skin lost the metallic gleam. His helmet vanished, allowing his hair to move to odd angles as he took on a more relaxed expression.

Kairi then sprouted wings, as a golden crown sparkled into existence on her head. Her cloth skin then lost the stitching pattern and turned to real skin.

Sora's uniform remained the same, but his skin lost the wooden texture as his key sprouted a handle in the center of the ring at the end, as well as chains attached to the other end of the ring, making it more like a sword than it was.

"What just happened?" Namine asked, looking at the changes that just occurred.

"Sora wasn't the only one with a curse on them," Kairi said, "As long as we were trapped in the other world; we couldn't be our true form."

"Who are you, really?" Namine pressed.

"Yuffie is one of the Snowflakes…" Kairi began, before Yuffie cut her off.

"I'm the Great Snowflake Ninja!" Yuffie interrupted indignantly, "Get it right"

"Sorry," Kairi answered, "and Riku is the bravest of my guard."

"And who are you?" Namine asked quizzically.

"I am the Queen of the Sugar Plum Fairies," Kairi responded cheerily.

"Why were any of you here?" Namine inquired, trying to figure out what was going on.

"We came to help Sora," Riku answered, "but we were found by the Mouse King, who turned us into toys. My Queen was the first of us to arrive. Master Xenmas found her and gave her to you, having been told of our mission. We arrived a year later, and managed to free Sora, but we were trapped in this form. We ran from that place, and were found by the very same Master Xenmas who had found Kairi. We were given to your friend, along with several automaton soldiers, and Sora was given to you."

"We're home!" Yuffie suddenly laughed, "We're finally home!"

The carriage came to a halt at those words. When the door opened, Namine was very surprised to see such beauty. It was made of crystal and metals so lovely that no one could even attempt to make metals that could appear to be their equal.

Sora helped Namine down and led her through the castle, giving her a tour and regaling her with stories from his childhood as the other guests entered.

There were many dances from each kingdom, even those of Kairi and Yuffie. Such amazing displays of music and rhythm were these that no one could ever describe them and do them justice. Eventually, the clock struck midnight. Sora walked Namine to the balcony, holding her hand gently.

"Namine," Sora said, his voice suddenly cautious, "The night is almost over, so we…I have something to ask you."

"What is it?" she asked, concerned by his tone.

"You have a choice, but you can only make it once," Sora answered, evading actually asking the question, "the magic can be accessed once a year, but, we can't return to your world, so we can only make this offer right now."

"What's wrong?" Namine pressed, wanting to get an answer.

"Well," Sora fidgeted, "The thing is, and the choice is yours entirely, that you have to choose between either staying here with us or leaving here, never to return."

Namine fell silent. Here, she had Sora, Yuffie, Riku, and Kairi, people who showed they cared about her, or the real world, where she was born and where all the other people she knew resided.

"Do I have to choose?" she asked.

"I'm sorry Namine," Sora apologized, presuming she didn't want to be there anymore, "I'll take you back, myself. Nobody wants to be with a bunch of people that aren't normal, right? You want to be with all of the people who are really important to you. Anybody would choose that."

"I didn't say I was going," Namine responded, "Just give me a moment to decide, okay?"

The entire castle was silent, anticipating Namine's response. She then smiled at Sora gently.

"I choose to stay with you," she said lovingly, wrapping her arms around him.

* * *

><p>And so, the story of the Nutcracker Prince has reached its end. Thank each and every one of you for reading this story, meaningless fluff that it is.<p> 


End file.
